Obsession
by Mi Ling Chi
Summary: He waits. He searches. He finds. And then for some years, he is content with reincarnation that fate has given him. But the cycle repeats, time and time again.
1. Rin-Maylis

Obsession. The word is quite fitting, he muses from the edge of the cliff.

Obsession. The word is hard and rough on his tongue, just like he was with her.

Obsession. It can drive a man to madness, and obsession can be the downfall of an empire.

His father was never obsessed with… what was her name? Izayoi. His father was never obsessed with Izayoi. He was in love. Sesshōmaru however, was obsessed. That was quite obvious. Perhaps he'd been in love once with the girl, but as the years passed and everything he'd once cherished crumbled beneath his black boots, his love turned to obsession. Obsession to keep the woman who he had sacrificed everything to be with by his side. Far and wide he went, dragging her with him to finds ways to make her immortal. Love no longer existed in his heart as he travelled from China to England. Just obsession.

He hadn't been successful in his search, and one day he had turned to look at the woman that had driven him to madness and found an old hag in her place. She claimed to be Rin. He didn't let himself believe that. So he killed her there, threw her over a cliff, and buried the image in the back of his mind so that she couldn't taint the image of his Rin in his mind.

But now two years had passed and his mind was marginally clearer. He could admit that the woman he'd been obsessed with would age, and that he could never change that or fix it.

His mind wasn't so clear as to tell him to stop though, to keep him from searching for her next incarnation. In fact, it egged him on to do just that. His Rin belonged to him, soul and body, even if her body was not the one he originally claimed.

Contrary to popular belief, reincarnation didn't take that long, especially not if there was a daiyōkai nearly as strong as the Kami themselves waiting for a certain soul to be reincarnated.

His search had finally come to close after two years. Sure, the Rin he found this time, Rin-Maylis, was but a babe. He could not bed a babe so he decided to wait and to watch, even though this land of France disgusted him.

He gains another follower, this time a priest who believes that he can save the town from the evils of something called Catholicism. The town was under some religious denomination called Anglicanism. He really didn't care, but it at least meant he had power within the church and had lots of sway amongst the villagers, and as Rin-Maylis grew, he used that power to turn everyone against her, and give her only him to turn to.

Sure, it was underhanded, but that was how religion, and power to some extent, was. It was underhanded. You used dirty tricks to get what you wanted, whether that was a little extra gold or the woman you so desired. And as we all know, Sesshōmaru certainly desired little Rin-Maylis.

As the years progressed, so did his lust for little Rin-Maylis. She looked a lot like Rin looked at fourteen, just the color pallet on her was all wrong. Instead of beautiful black hair as dark as the night itself, Rin-Maylis had blond hair that reminded Sesshōmaru of wheat. Rin-Maylis didn't have Rin's brown eyes that reminded Sesshōmaru of the earth. Instead, Rin-Maylis had blue eyes that reminded him of jewels. Her skin was also a lighter tone, much like the rest of the smelly French, and she preferred blue to orange. But everything else about Rin-Maylis was Rin, down to the smile even.

So when Rin-Maylis was fourteen was the first time he had her. He'd lured her into the church on a day of a festival, into one of the confessionals, and demanded that she confess to being the Devil's whore. He honestly didn't care about nonsense like that, but he did want her in tears, so confused that when he began to touch her body like only a husband should, she'd take comfort in it rather than fear it. Perhaps in the modern world, one would call this grooming, especially since he'd been the kindest of the people in the little village towards her when she was a little child.

But dark thoughts of legalities aside, everything went off without a hitch. She reveled and bloomed in his touch instead of feared and flinched from it. And that was only the first of many times she did so under his touch, one of many.

He married Rin-Maylis at some point after claiming that the Devil no longer tempted her as he did when she was a child. They moved away from the village, into seclusion, and had one child. They would've had more, he had wanted more even, but it seemed that Rin-Maylis was too simple minded and deluded, unlike his Rin. His Rin would've cherished a hanyō child, would've loved to have one and would've had one if she weren't infertile. Rin-Maylis on the other hand, was so disgusted by the hanyō child, and the fact that he was a yōkai, that she drowned the child one day while he was away and jumped off the roof.

That was the end of Rin-Maylis, but not the end of cycle nor his obsession. And for many centuries to come, he continued to find the many reincarnations.


	2. Rin-Konstanze

The next Rin was in Germany. He called her Rin-Konstanze since the name given to her by her father and mother was Konstanze and because she was his Rin as well, just as he had done with Rin-Maylis and the many differently named Rin's to come. He found Rin-Konstanze when she was a mere two years old, four years after the demise of Rin-Maylis. Another small village was her location, and once more, he used religion to get to her.

This time, the religion was different. It was a cult really, only the small village practiced this religion, and they worshipped him as a God. He became their God, made the father of Rin-Konstanze his main priest, and gained everyone's trust, including little Rin-Konstanze. He taught them, _brainwashed_ them, into believing that he should have everything he wanted, and he didn't hide his demonic heritage though he masked it as a godly heritage.

This was a perfect plan in Sesshōmaru's eyes. It eliminated the yōkai-hatred that Rin-Maylis felt because of her religion, and it made everyone, including little Rin-Konstanze, trust him. This was the perfect tactic.

Once more it was grooming, how he from the day she turned six demanded that she was brought up to be his bride. In modern day, it was illegal. But that was then and this is now, and anyhow, you don't deny god-like yōkai when the want something, whether the means are illegal or not, moral or unmoral.

Rin-Konstanze had light brown hair. The color was hard to describe, but it had a greyish tint to it as well. And her eyes, they were a blue-grey, a beautifully somber blue-grey, but a blue-grey.

She was quite pretty, especially on the day she became his bride. She was blushing, bashful, innocent, and naïve. In that moment, the moment where she promised to be faithful to him for as long as she lived, he saw Rin instead of Rin-Konstanze.

If he had to pick between Rin-Konstanze and Rin-Maylis, Rin-Konstanze won hands down. Both were deluded by religion, but at least Rin-Konstanze wouldn't kill her and their child because of religion.

He didn't move away into seclusion like he did with Rin-Maylis. He had followers and worshippers, wealth and power in the village. Scribes recorded his every action. The populace loved him, and encourage Rin-Konstanze to stay with him and to bare him many heirs. Staying was helpful for his cause, his cause to be with Rin. And anyhow, if he'd left, Rin-Konstanze could've gotten depressed from missing her friends and family, and his followers might've started to question his godly claims.

Still, as much it seemed to have been working for him, religion that was, religion was what took her from him once more. This time, it was Catholicism. Claiming he was a demon, priests swayed his followers to their side. He was forced to flee in fear of death, attempts at his life had been coming from every direction.

He never knew what happened to Rin-Konstanze. He assumed to she died around thirty, probably of some disease or something. He didn't care honestly, Rin-Konstanze was stupid. She left everything he'd promised her for some book written by men thousands of years of ago that went against things one could observe with their own eyes. Rin-Konstanze didn't even deserve the Rin before her name if that was how she was going to choose stupidity over him.

He learned his lesson though. Religion was a fire he wouldn't mess with again.


	3. Rin-Lidiya

_I felt like I had to update this. You see, two days ago, my computer all but died. Booting it up into anything besides safe mode would cause it to crash to the blue screen of death. I thought I was going to lose all my documents. Luckily, I could boot it up into safe mode and get all my docs. I came so close to losing this chapter that I just had to update. So here you go._

_Also, please vote on the poll on my profile._

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There hadn't been much to say about Rin-Konstanze. He mostly did the same things he did with Rin-Maylis, grooming her through religion to become his. Religion took her from him as well.

Rin-Lidiya was the next reincarnation, and as he'd learned with Rin-Maylis and Rin-Konstanze, he didn't use religion to get to the girl.

He found Rin-Lidiya in Russia of all places, the capitol actually. She was the daughter of one of the servants of the Czar, and he definitely had strong suspicions regarding the identity of her father. Then again who wouldn't, not when the Czar was known for fooling around with maids and she had features similar to the ruling man. Kind of plain as day.

Sesshōmaru found Rin-Lidiya when she was four. He hadn't even intended to find her there, in the streets of Russia, dirty and crying for her mother, lost and alone. After going so long without a Rin to watch over, to yearn for or take physically, he'd decided to let her go, to let her be her own being and fall in love with whatever village idiot caught her attention. He'd returned to his nomadic wandering, this time wandering across Europe and into Asia since Japan no longer held anything of value to him.

No, he hadn't intended to find Rin-Lidiya that day. Honestly, he hadn't. Still, when the smell wafted to him, he knew he could not resist. The scent, that scent that every Rin incarnation had, drew him in, held on, and did not let him escape. He followed it and found her. She looked to him with pleading grey eyes, and begged childishly for her mommy. He couldn't resist.

He picked up the child and returned her to where she said she lived. Her mother was there, frantically scrambling about looking for the girl. She invited him into the hovel she called a home, tucked Rin into bed for the girl was dead-tired after the stressful events of the day, and served him tea made with water that was already brown.

That was when he proposed a deal the Rin-Lidiya's mother. The deal was quite simple, that Rin-Lidiya marry him once she turned of age and in return, he'd provide for Rin-Lidiya and her mother for the rest of their lives. Sure, he had no job and had to fabricate one when asked after making the proposal, but Rin-Lidiya's mother accepted and he quickly found a job in hunting and providing for meat markets.

Life was good at that point. Rin-Lidiya grew up knowing that she would only ever be allowed to love Sesshōmaru, and that she would one day marry him and be expected to provide him heirs. She never questioned it, and cherished him greatly. Rin-Lidiya's mother, Violetta, was also very good about it. She never pestered him, and while he was waiting for Rin-Lidiya to come of age, Violetta serviced him as a woman does for a man. Hunting allowed him to be a demon as well. Life was very content worthy, and even better yet, Rin-Lidiya and Violetta were not religious people.

Things were very well all throughout Rin-Lidiya's life. Once she was sixteen, they married. The wedding night was wondrous. She was a natural at pleasuring a man, probably because behind her mother's back he'd taught her a few things and because when she was first blossoming into womanhood, she'd spy on Violetta pleasuring Sesshōmaru. But she was a virgin, something Sesshōmaru had always enjoyed to destroy.

They had three children, all of them sons. The first was Victor, the second Dimitri, and the littlest one Vladimir. They were darling children, precious and fine. He was thrilled to have them, and so was Rin-Lidiya. Victor grew up to become a trusted advisor of the Czar. Dimitri ended up being a physician who made many breakthroughs during the course of his life in the medical field. Vladimir grew up to become a wonderfully polite gentleman, and while his career was only that of a book-binder, Sesshōmaru was still just as proud of Vladimir as he was his other children.

Sesshōmaru honestly loved Rin-Lidiya, nearly as much as he had the original Rin. Sure, never quite as much as Rin, but Rin-Lidiya even to modern day was his favorite reincarnation. Rin-Lidiya never caused Sesshōmaru problems, never doubted him, feared him, hated him, or defied him. She wasn't stupid, perhaps innocently trusting, but never a dunce like her predecessors had been.

Rin-Lidiya still died before he was ready for her to die. She was thirty-two when she died, fallen ill in the roughest winter to hit Russia since Sesshōmaru had arrived. While he cursed her human frailty for letting her die so young, he was also surprisingly relieved the she died before she got withered and wrinkly. He grieved her year before he moved on and began his search anew.

He kept in touch with his sons from Rin-Lidiya up until their deaths. Victor died of old in the 1950's. Sesshōmaru had gone to his funeral, and met the tiger yōkai Victor had settled down with in 1800's. Dimitri had died at age fifty, coming down with something that in the future would be known as Cancer. Not only Sesshōmaru mourned his second son, but so did the medical world. Had Dimitri survived, Sesshōmaru had no doubt that the physician would've cured Cancer before he died of old age.

Vladimir lived until about 1780. He died in a fire in Moscow, leaving behind a widowed spider yōkai and four children that would become famous figures fighting for Women's rights, Labor rights, etc. He was very proud of them, and always would be, even if he'd never really kept in contact with them.

He never made any mistakes with Rin-Lidiya. The only things he learned from her that he'd carry on to insure he captured all of the Rin incarnations were positive tips and ideas on how to ensnare them. That, and that he would never give up on finding the Rin incarnations. Never once after Rin-Lidiya did he give up on them.


	4. Rin-Mulan

China. That was where he found the next Rin. It was in China of all places. From the streets of Moscow where at least women held some respect and footing when it came to the battle of equality between the genders, to China where a woman being worth far less than a dog was treated as fact. It was definitely a step down, and he wondered what Rin had done to deserve that fate. Not that he objected much− it made it much easier for him to have Rin.

This Rin was Rin-Mulan, named after the warrior woman of legend herself. Her father was some rice farmer, completely loyal to whatever dynasty reigned at the time, and completely fearful of the creatures of legend. Her mother was one of the two concubines that her father had. A large woman with a deep voice and very yellow teeth.

Rin-Mulan however, was the epitome of beauty. Her parents might've been ugly, a stain to the world in his honest opinion, but she was like a rare flower that was priceless when cultivated.

He found Rin-Mulan by the banks of a river, her father a little ways away from her, slumbering as his daughter stuck her red hands into the freezing water to catch fish for the night's dinner. Sesshōmaru stood on a tree branch nearby, watching the little girl who looked like Rin, tying together the strings of his plot to attain her.

He watched her until she was twelve years of age, six years after he first found her. His plan had long been decided upon, spirit her away from her family right in front of them. Their fear of the supernatural would lend a helping hand to him, allowing him to keep her without ever giving her up. They would never give chase, fearing for their lives and their luck or what have you if they did.

The family was down by the river they had been the first time he spied her, all of the family. The farmer, his wife, his two concubines, his five sons, his two daughters, and Rin-Mulan. The girls was laughing and splashing in the water, the boys running around playing games of chase. The concubines lounged under the trees, yawning in boredom. The farmer and his wife sat at the edge of the bank, lazily fishing and chatting in hushed tones. The perfect family outing. Maybe him and Rin-Mulan would do that one day.

Musing about his futures with a girl that wasn't even his yet could wait until he actually had her. Then he could muse all he wanted, and he could even let her pitch her opinion as well as long as she didn't moan about wanting to return to her family.

He swooped down from the tree branch he'd be on, startling the peaceful scene by the river. The little girls, including Rin, screamed at the top of their lungs. The ugly concubines were on their feet, backing away into the trees with frightful looks lingering in the gazes. The sons were hiding behind the oldest son who was looking like he was about to make a dash for the trees. The first wife stood cowered behind her husband who watched him carefully, scared out of his wits.

Sesshōmaru had jumped over the river and was now standing before the girls who were on the ground, staring at him frightfully. He grabbed Rin-Mulan by her hair and threw her over his shoulder before taking off into the trees again. It hadn't been very hard.

He found an abandoned temple on a cliff side, and decided to call it home. He ended up having to tie Rin-Mulan to one of the posts just to get her stop trying to run away.

The years with Rin-Mulan were nothing like his years with Rin-Lidiya. They were not peaceful, they were not joyous and full of love, they were not easy for him. She was a fighter, and she fought him every step of the way.

When he took her to bed the first time at age fourteen, he woke up the next morning with multiple bruises.

When she gave birth to their first child, Zhàn Shì, she never treated him as her flesh and blood. Sesshōmaru had to bring in a nursemaid just so the child could nurse.

When he brought her wonderful gifts, jewels, jade, and silk, she looked away and didn't acknowledge any of it.

Rin-Mulan was so troublesome, so not worth his time. He took concubines just because they were more fun than Rin-Mulan.

The end of Rin-Mulan came the same time that all the other time her past incarnations died. She was thirty, five years after the birth of his second child Kǒng Què, a daughter he cherished deeply. How Rin-Mulan died though was his fault.

He killed her.

He wasn't going to wait around until she died of natural causes to have the next Rin. She didn't want to be his, and she'd said she'd rather die than be so, so he killed her. There was nothing else to really say, just that he forced her to drink some of his acid and she was done.


End file.
